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Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Forecasting the Past: Remembering Jama`at al-Muslimin – Precursor of the Islamic State and its Rivalry with Al-Qaeda

The ascendancy
of the Islamic State from a trivial Al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq into a global
jihadist organization that has dominated both the Middle-Eastern and
North-African Islamist landscapes has puzzled Intelligence Agencies,
International Organizations and International Policy Makers alike, across the
world. Nonetheless, understanding its rise within the historical perspective of
Global Jihad and Al-Qaeda’s strategic projections to create a global caliphate
would demystify most of the mysteries cloaking the Islamic State. This is due
to the fact that the Islamic State arose from the ashes of one of the most
extremist factions within Al-Qaeda - Jama`at al-Muslimin (JaM). JaM formed the
core matrix of Salafist-jihadists - more
radical than Al-Qaeda leaders - who would inspire the radicalization ethos and
brutal tactics presently being used by the Islamic State to respectively
radicalize impressionable Muslims in the West as well as maltreat and
dehumanize their rivals (both combatants and non-combatants).

The rise of the Islamic State in 2014 was unprecedented
in both global and regional realms. This is principally due to its rapid
ascendancy to military dominance over the Syria-Iraq Theater of War, its
proto-state structure and its ability to rapidly gain affiliates – mostly at
the expense of its rival transnational Islamist-Jihadist organization,
Al-Qaeda[1].

The western world was instantaneously shocked and
perplexed by the military successes of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant, also abbreviated as ISIS if Levant is substituted for its Arabic
equivalent, Al-Sham) starting from February 2014 and culminating in its capture
of Mosul in June 2014 whence it announced itself as the most dominant fighting
force in both Iraq and Syria. Likewise, ISIL has also horrified the world with
its widely self-publicized brutality and savagery[2].

Islamic State has shocked the World with its Publicized Brutality. Photo Credit: Reuters

Prior to 2014, the Concept
of a global caliphate was peddled by Al-Qaeda,[3]
but even its most optimistic strategists considered it an implausible Idea whose time had not arrived; and
Al-Qaeda had instead tasked its
jihadists to prioritize on destroying the Near
Enemy while Al-Qaeda Central (AQC) strategized on how to cripple the Far Enemy[4].

Nonetheless, the feat accomplished by ISIL stunned
everyone, including Al-Qaeda and ISIS itself which interpreted their rapid
successes as a series of Divine Miracles. Using its newfound international
publicity - grounded on its spectacular military successes which were in turn
founded on its uncompromising and intolerant Islamist ideology - the Islamic
State projected itself as the only legitimate Islamic administration worthy of
allegiance (Baay’ah)[5].

The self-declared Caliphate introduced a novelty in
the global war against terror as the Islamic State quickly built state
institutions and strengthened its judiciary, while its executive arm ensured
that the borders of the nascent caliphate are protected and its population
conforms to ISIL-approved Sharia
law and Islamic way of life[6].
Nonetheless, ISIL was considered
illegitimately extremist by Al-Qaeda, its parent organization – which had
expelled it from the Al-Qaeda franchise[7].

Even so, ISIL
over-ambitiousness and hardline creeds were not new to al-Qaeda. In 1990s,
Al-Qaeda was grappling with a horde of hot-headed insubordinate and subversive
Afghan-Arabs who peddled around their unsound Caliphal credentials[8].
This horde banded itself together under the banner of Jama`at al-Muslimin (JaM), and it would experience a tragic rise to
infamous prominence among jihadists prior to its anticipated and well-deserved
downfall. JaM should not be confused
with a related group, Takfir wal-Hijra,
which shared the same ideologies but operated in a different Theater of Jihad[9].

In the Islamic State, Al-Qaeda sees the reincarnation
of JaM, and is horrified that ISIL
would provoke mass exterminations of Sunnis in both Iraq and Syria – hence its
determined opposition to a group which Al-Qaeda considers to have established a
heretical caliphate that would foreshadow the ultimate ruin of Sunni ascendancy
in both Mesopotamia and the Levant.

Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Musa
al-Rifa`i

The most notable figure behind Jama`at al-Muslimin is one Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Rifa`i (noms
de guerre Abu Hammam al-Filistini and Abu `Isa al-Rifa`i); a member of the
Muslim Brotherhood who held Jordanian citizenship.

Muhammad al-Rifa`i was born in 1959 to Palestinian
parents residing in the Jordanian town of al-Zarqa where he grew up. He
attended Jordanian schools and graduated as a medical doctor from one of its
universities. During his university years, he joined the Jordanian chapter of
the Muslim Brotherhood, where he began his Islamist activism. In mid-1980’s, al-Rifa`i
relocated to Pakistan as part of the Arab Nusra
(Support) Front for the Afghan Mujahideen.
In Pakistan, he worked as a doctor, and also engaged in daa’wah (Islamic proselytization). It was during this time that he
made acquaintances with prominent Islamist-jihadi leaders including Osama bin
Laden;[10]
and a fellow Jordanian (of Palestinian descent), who also happened to be the
most prominent Salafist scholar and jihadi expositor, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam[11].

After the collapse and the subsequent disintegration
of the Soviet Union in early 1990s, al-Rifa`i returned to Jordan where his
obdurate beliefs – especially on the concept of Tawheed and the need for a Unitary Islamic Government - were at
odds with the aspirations of the Jordanian Branch of the Muslim Brotherhood,[12]
and he ended up abandoning the Brotherhood. Al-Rifa`i
would later link up an ideological-compatible jihadist, Abu al-Muntasir; and
together they would form the al-Da`waah
wal-Jihad organization whose Wahhabi-jihadist orientation alarmed the
Jordanian Government which consequently countered (the organization) by suppressing
it prior to dismantling it.

Al-Rifa`i would then proceed to propagate his Salafi-jihadi
doctrines to the wider Jordanian public – mainly through distribution of the
literature penned down by one of the chief strategists of Al-Qaeda, Abu
Muhammad al-Maqdisi. al-Rifa`i passionately expounded on the obligation of
Jordanian Muslims to violently oppose American military operations against Iraq
during the First Gulf War. The activities of al-Rifa`i during this period led Hasan
Abu Haniyya to regard him as a principal architect of Jordanian Islamist-Jihadism.
Likewise the Jordanian authorities were increasingly alarmed by his activities;
and they imprisoned him in 1992, alongside other prominent Jordanian jihadists -
during the suppression of the seditious activities of Jaysh al-Muhammad (Army of Muhammad)[13].
After a four-month stunt in Jordanian prison, he was released, and he promptly
went into exile in Peshawar, Pakistan; where he found the Afghan-Arab Mujahideen plagued with leadership
vacuum following the assassination Abdullah Azzam by Russian agents[14].

Disorder Plagues the
Afghan-Arab Mujahedeen

In 1992, the Afghan-Arab Mujahideen were plagued with a myriad of problems; chief among them
being a leadership vacuum following Azzam’s assassination and the decision of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to place Osama bin Laden under house arrest owing
to his opposition to the ruling al-Saud Dynasty. Abu al-Walid al-Misri, a
prominent jihadist of Egyptian origin, would later concede that in 1992, the
Afghan-Arab mujahedeen were on the verge of disunion and collapse as several
factions left Pakistan thus demoralizing the remaining jihadists as well as
weakening the jihadist campaign against the Afghan tribal warlords[15].

Emergence of Jama`at al-Muslimin

It was in this environment that Jama`at al-Muslimin emerged when a group of Islamic Scholars (including
al-Rifa`i) and Madrassa Students strove to expunge Jahiliyya (ignorance) - which they considered pervasive amongst the
leadership of the Mujahideen. These
Islamic Scholars and their erstwhile students concluded that the principal
blunder made by the mujahedeen was to non-cohesively plunge into the Afghan
theater of war, as their original disunion guaranteed an eventual periodic
infighting among them after the defeat of the Soviets. This infighting, they
concluded, went against one of the principal tenets of Sharia – that the Ummah is one unified body which must be
led by a single administration under a leader who aspires to achieve the prime
objective of subordinating the whole world under Islam. To actualize this aim, Abu
`Uthman al-Filistini – a US citizen of Palestinian descent – working alongside Abu
Ayyub al-Barqawi – a jihadi from Sudan - conceptualized that a Caliphate was
needed, and a Caliph was thus needed to guide and rule the Caliphate[16].
The group decided to form Jama`at
al-Muslimin to serve the dual purpose of strengthening the Ummah as well as serve as a vehicle
towards the actualization of the Khilafa.
Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Musa al-Rifa`i was one of the founding Emirs of JaM; but Abu `Uthman al-Filistini was the principal force behind
the new organization.

Selecting the Caliph

Uthman al-Filistini and Ayyub al-Barqawi had been the
most prominent, vocal and committed proponents of the need for a unitary
Sharia-based administration which would unify the Ummah besides ushering in the ultimate Salvation; and as such they
were tasked with the duty of finding a caliph. The two enjoined al-Rifa`i in
their quest for a caliph. Since a caliph must fulfill certain obligatory
requirements –including belonging to the Qurayshi tribe, the two were forced to
seek a caliph among the Arabs in the Middle East, and they eventually settled
on a Saudi National who was promptly arrested and jailed by the Saudi
authorities fearful of having two centres of power in the kingdom. Meanwhile, al-Rifa`i
journeyed to the United Kingdom to seek out the Caliph, and during his sojourn
in Britain, he preached about Islamic Monotheism, and called on British Muslims
to support him and his organization financially.

After months of a fruitless search, al-Filistini and
al-Barqawi returned back to Peshawar where JaM
was based. In Peshawar, al-Rifa`i’s acolytes - understanding that he was
originally a Palestinian who had settled in Jordan - decided to investigate his
genealogy, as it was well known that some Jordanians and Palestinians were
direct descendants of Muhammed or members of his Quraysh tribe[17].
After a period of investigations, they found out that al-Rifa`i had indeed
descended from the Qurayshis; and they recalled him to Peshawar. On 3rd
April 1993, JaM declared al-Rifa`i
(and renamed him Abu Isa Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad Al-Hashimy Al-Qurayshi) as
their Caliph, with Uthman al-Filistini serving as his deputy and Ayyub
al-Barqawi[18] serving as the chief Kadhi (judge).

Announcing the Caliphate

Abu Ayyub al-Barqawi officially announced the
establishment of the caliphate and implored on all Muslims to pledge an oath of
allegiance to Caliph Abu Isa Muhammad Ali ibn Ahmad Al-Hashimy Al-Qurayshi.
Likewise, al-Barqawi clearly outlined the responsibilities and obligations of
the Caliph, principal among them being the abolishment of man-made laws,
primacy of Sharia, and unwavering opposition to Kuffar (non-Sharia based) governments. Moreover, the Caliph was
obliged to assemble all Muslims under the banner of the Sharia and also impose
the primacy of Islam across the World through both offensive and defensive
jihad[19].

Conclusion

The aforementioned obligations are presently being
actualized by the Islamic State as it plunges the Middle East into turmoil besides
threatening regional stability in North Africa. Nonetheless, Al-Qaeda would
stubbornly and determinedly oppose JaM, just
as it is presently severely and inflexibly opposed to the Islamic State. The
reasons why Al-Qaeda was vehemently against the Caliphate declared by JaM and is still opposed to the
Caliphate declared by the Islamic State are expounded on the second part of
this piece. In both cases, the past hurdles faced by Al-Qaeda have returned to
haunt it; and it is also highly probable that the Islamic State will suffer a
fate worse than that of Jama`at
al-Muslimin, that is, total defeat and utter annihilation.

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